The Tropical Savanna Futures Forum was held on 28 February 2008,
at Charles Darwin University, Darwin. This forum reviewed the
lessons learned over the last 13 years from both rounds of the
Savannas CRC and also assessed how this knowledge could be applied
in the years ahead. What is the future for Australia's tropical
savannas? The Lunch break also saw the launch of the book Future
options for north Australia by Prof. Stephen Garnett, Dr John
Woinarski, Prof. Rolf Gerritsen and Dr Gordon Duff.
The Forum and book launch were very well attended with over 180
people from across Australia showing up. Attendees included
researchers, land managers, policy-makers, students and those with
a general interest in the savannas. Many interstate visitors took
the opportunity to have satellite meetings on various areas of
savanna research and many old ties from over a decade of savanna
research were renewed. The Forum also generated several interviews
on ABC Country hour. So a good time was had by all, but how
successful was the forum? Hopefully the ideas and practical
applications highlighted will have an impact in the future –
time will tell.
It is worth noting that of the three NT participants in the
Sustainability and Climate Change topic at the forthcoming national
2020 summit, Joe Morrison (NAILSMA) was a speaker, Stephen Garnett
(CDU) was a session chair and Stuart Blanch (WWF) attended the
Savanna Futures Forum.
The powerpoint presentations and written summaries from the
Forum are now available: www.savanna.cdu.edu.au/news/futures_forum.html
2020 summit website: www.australia2020.gov.au/
